Joe Brolly’s entertaining accumulator story does not add up

Accumulator timeline doesn’t add up!

Joe Brolly’s column on how he and a friend lost out on a bet was entertaining as always, although the timeline seems off.

This accumulator included Louth under-20s, Kerry and Down in the football and Tipperary hurlers, who all won, so it came down to two remaining games for, he hinted, a large return.

“Then, it was the big one: Limerick v Cork…,” Brolly wrote.

“By half-time it was 2-18 to 0-9, the Cork lads were asking for their mammy and we were feeling on top of the world.”

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“It was then,” he added, “I decided to tune into Midwest Radio, just to bask in the inevitability of our triumph.”

Joe “sat there, listening sorrowfully, as it went from Cavan four up, to five, to six, to seven.”

The puzzling part is that Cavan and Mayo had thrown in at 2.30pm and the hurling didn’t start till 4pm.

Confusion reigned across the board. With Limerick 1-2 to 0-0 ahead (4.02pm) and seemingly unaware Cavan were cruising with a few minutes left, Brolly’s co-bettor texted him, “home and hosed”, with accompanying champagne and confetti emoji. A baffling oversight for a duo who “agonise over wager like two great chess champions pondering their next move”!

By half-time in the hurling, when Joe switched to the Midwest commentary from Castlebar and listened as Cavan pulled clear, the football had actually been over for almost half an hour, the accumulator long sank.

Clean sheets a major priority for Donegal

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness at the All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 1 match against Tyrone. Photograph: ©INPHO/John McVitty

It felt almost shocking to see Tyrone rattle the Donegal net twice in the first half on Saturday evening; conceding goals in championship is most unDonegal-like behaviour on Jim McGuinness’s watch.

Before Saturday, the Glenties man had managed his county in 36 senior championship matches, with his side keeping 26 clean sheets in that time, for a strike-rate of 72 per cent. On only three previous occasions has a team scored more than one major against McGuinness’s Donegal (Mayo in 2013 scored four, Cork grabbed three last year and Kerry bagged two in the 2014 All-Ireland final).

For context, Jim Gavin oversaw 12 more matches in charge of the Dubs from 2013-19 but enjoyed just one more defensive shut-out (27 clean sheets in 48 games, equalling 56 per cent).

Maybe McGuinness’s understandable focus on not conceding goals was forged during his own playing career at senior level, when Donegal’s habit of leaking majors cost them numerous big matches including Ulster Championship exits against Down in 1996 (1-9 to 0-11), Derry in 1998 (1-7 to 0-8), Armagh in ’99 (2-11 to 0-12) and Fermanagh in 2000 and 2001 (1-12 to 0-13 and 1-9 to 0-11).

Managers take bite at Big Apple

Before a ball was pucked in the Lory Meagher, the Schemozzle reported on the disquiet among the hurling fraternity in the bottom tier at New York’s inclusion. A stacked team including former Galway star Johnny Glynn, who is looking to complete the Liam MacCarthy-Lory Meagher double, entered the competition at the semi-final stage on Saturday and were priced at 1/100 to beat Monaghan.

They duly obliged, leading by 18 points with 15 minutes remaining before winning by 13. Monaghan had played five matches to reach that point and their manager, Arthur Hughes, was not happy before the game, branding New York’s inclusion “an absolute disgrace”.

In the final, New York will take on Cavan.

“It’s not the New York players’ fault, it’s certainly not their manager’s fault that they’re in it, it’s an absolute disgrace that they’re in it, it’s an absolute disgrace the way the GAA handled it,” said Cavan manager Ollie Bellew.

Quote

“He’s just a great man altogether isn’t he?”

Co-commentator Aaron Kernan on GAA+ after Michael Murphy sent over his second two-pointer against Tyrone.

Royals rain supreme

Cork's Éanna O'Hanlon looks on as the wet weather conditions set in during the game against Meath. Photograph: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

A big story from Páirc Tailteann was the biblical rain which, according to RTÉ radio commentator Martin Kiely, prompted some supporters to stream out (pun intended) even though it was still a one-point game.

“The rain is certainly pouring down now and God help the poor souls on the far side of the field that haven’t got a brolly – and I’d say 80 per cent of them don’t have,” noted Kiely, whose commentary was superb, at one stage.

“The water is coming in through the sheeting here, the Taoíseach is here, he might see about a grant for them,” Kiely joked.

“It feels like we’re maybe in Old Trafford with the leaky roof!” chipped in co-comm Kyle Coney. There is a pun about Coney Island in there somewhere but we won’t inflict it on you ...